Projects We Support

Wildlife Conservation and Community Education

Who are they: Friends of Ruaha Society (FORS) was formed in 1984 to assist with the task of safeguarding the wildlife in the Ruaha National Park and its environment. Over the years as the Tanzanian National Parks received more tourists and income, FORS focus turned toward educating the surrounding communities through a varitey of measures.  Ruaha NP is 45,000 sq. km. of stunning beauty and wildlife whose lifeblood is the Ruaha River, which feeds the entire southern region of Tanzania

What do they do: FORS assists the schools of 10 communities surrounding Ruaha NP through envrionmental education, consisting of engaging youth and adults into understanding why the park was created, how it benefits Tanzanians and its importance to their future. They accomplish this through a variety of programs including information about the wildlife in the park, environmental education of Tanzania, and engaging and preparing individuals toward prospective employment within the Park and the tourist industry. Tree farming, agricultural plots and understanding the water issues of this very dry landscape dependent upon the Ruaha River, which has been slowly drying up due to poor land management and largescale rice and sugar farming.

How does WildiZe help them: in 2002 & 2005 WildiZe provided funding to enable 1500 school children, from grade levels to high school and teachers, with associated transport, food and Park Rangers for day long field trips into the park spanning one month. At the end of the field trips WildiZe also funded drawing contests complete with prizes, for the children to highlight what they experienced and learned about their environment, their wildlife and the need for conservation and water usage.

Results: in 2006, after a approx 3000 students had field trips into the park, the World Enviroment Day (WED) was held at one of the schools in the FORS community area.  Over 8000 students and teachers from the 10 schools along with speakers from Tanzania NP's and Ministry of Enviroment, participated in the celebration, a culmination of 4 years of work. Prizes for the drawing contest were handed out, and WildiZe presented wildlife documentary films to the majority of the students and teachers present through out the day, while also attending the WED celebrations.

FAST FACTS:

The Great Ruaha River is a river in south-central Tanzania that flows through the Usangu wetlands and the Ruaha National Park east into the Rufiji River. The population of the basin is mainly sustained by irrigation and water-related livelihoods such as fishing and livestock keeping.

Great Ruaha is about 475 km (300 mi.) long, its tributary basin has a catchment area of 68,000 km² and the mean annual discharge is 140 m³/s. The Great Ruaha River supplies 22 per cent of the total flow of the Rufiji catchment system. Thirty-eight species of fish have been identified in the Great Ruaha River.

Decreased flows in the Great Ruaha have been recorded since the early 1990s, resulting in complete drying of sections of the river in 1993 and in dry years since . This has been attributed to uncontrolled and poor water management, with the large rice irrigation schemes playing a major role.